Mechanism for controlling carbons of arc-lamps.



A. W. HARRIS. MECHANISM FOR CONTROLLING CARBONS 0F ARC LAMPS. 1,271,162.

wwgmm Patented July 2, 1918. 2 SHEETS-SHEET l a @9 k k 5 m h m 3 a A m 7Q f W Io h m e u m d .k w 1.

a 70 w ma n H I A. W. HARRIS. MECHANISM FOR CONTROLLING CARBONS OF ARC LAMPS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB, 25. I916. 1,27 1, 1 62. Patented July 2, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

F Inventor UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR W. HARRIS, OF EBDINGTON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR T0 BERTBAND F. WYLER,

' OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MECHANISM FOR CONTROLLING CABIBONS 0F ARC-LAMPS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR WILLIAM HARRIS, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at 38 J oifray road, Erdington, in the county of Warwickshire, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mechanism for Controlling Garbons of Arc-Lamps, of which the following is a specification.

' The invention concerns the automatic feeding of carbons of arc lamps and it consists in the features and combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure I is a side view of the immediate operating mechanism for the carbons.

Fig. II is a view of Fig. I a quarter turn therefrom.

Fig. III is a diagrammatic view of the apparatus with the wiring.

Fig. IV is a side view of a solenoid and associated parts looking from the right of the corresponding parts in Fig. III.

Fig. V is a side view of a relay and associated parts looking from the right of the corresponding parts in Fig. III.

Fig. VI is a view of another form of relay that may be used.

Fig. VII is a view of a brush or sliding circuit closer.

In these drawings a Figs. I and II is the shaft of the immediate carbon feed mechanism. This may be of any desired form and constitutes no part of my invention. This shaft is provided with a handle 5 by which it may be manually operated in either direction. On this shaft is mounted a ratchet wheel 0, and an arm d is also mounted on this shaft, though loosely. This arm carries a pawl e pivoted thereto at f and adapted to engage the ratchet whee. The pawl is normally out of engagement with said ratchet wheel, so that the adjustment of the carbons can be accomplished at any time and in either direction by simply turning the hand wheel manually. The pawl is made to operate the ratchet wheel by a rod g connected to said pawl and also connected with the armature of the solenoid 1 1, which armature is normally lifted by a spring 14. When the solenoid coil is energized and its armature is thereby pulled down, the first effect will be to tip the pawl into engagement with the ratchet wheel and Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. February 25, 1916. Serial No. 80,474.

then the further draft of the rod will turn the ratchet itself and thus feed the carbons.

As before stated, the operating rod g is connected to the pawl directly instead of to the arm which carries the pawl, so that the pawl will be normally out of contact with the ratchet wheel and will be thrown into engagementqtherewith as the first effect of the operation of the rod 9. To insure this action, the pivoted pawl carrying arm cl is provided with retarding or restraining means which may be of various forms, but in. the particular construction shown it consists of an arm h suitably mounted on the casing and slotted to re ceive a screw or bolt h carrying a friction washer h the tension of which may be regulated by the screw. This screw is carried by the pawl arm at and when the pawl arm moves it must carry the friction washer with it. The arm is thus under restraint to this extent, and this insures that the first efiect of the pull of the rod 9 will be to tip the pawl into engagement with the ratchet and after this has taken place, the further movement of the rod 9 will turn the pawl and its arm and thus turn the ratchet to feed the carbons. The normal position of the pawl is determined by the stop h secured to the pawl arm (2 and the upward position of the pawl carrying arm is determined by the bolt or screw it coming against the upper wall of the slot.

The solenoid 14 is in a high tension circuit shown in Fig. III which may be traced as follows:

Line 17,- fuse 17 knife switch contacts 10, 11, line 18 to solenoid 14, and line 19, fuse 19*, line 20, it being understood that contacts 10, 11, must be closed b the bridge or knife switch member 9 in or er that this high tension circuit be completed. The bridge or knife switch contact 9 is carried by but insulated from a slide 21, suitably guided and connected with the armature 7 of the solenoid 7. The solenoid coil is in a branch of a shunt circuit controlled by the relay, the armature of which is shown at 3, its coil or coils at 3 and its contact cooperating with the armature at 4. The armature is under tension of spring 6, tending to move it against the said contact 1, whereas the pull of the magnet or magnets will break contact at 4. The relay magnet is in the shunt circuit mentioned which leads off from the resistance box X, in the main high tension arc circuit, leading to the carbons, which are indicated at y, w, and this shunt circuit also includes a resistance 5 and contacts 12 and 13 for cutting out said resistance when the knife switch or bridge No. 8

controlled by solenoid .7 contacts therewith, all as will be described hereinafter.

The shunt circuit may be traced as follows:

Line 1, fuse 23, lines 24 and 25 to resistance coil 5, line 26 to relay magnet or coil, thence by line 27, fuse 28 and line 29 back to the resistance box. 'This shunt circuit is so connected With the plates of the resistance box as to supply a current of say 10 volts, the high tension current being say 110 volts. I

The branch of this shunt circuit which controls the switch solenoid 7 may be traced as follows:

Line 24 to contact 4 of the relay armature or switch arm 3, line 30 to solenoid 7, line 31 from solenoid to lines 27 and 29 of the main shunt circuit.

In addition to the circuits and devices above described, I provide a circuit 40, 41, which is in multiple with the branch shunt circuit which includes the solenoid coil 7, and this circuit 40, 41 includes a supplemental relay magnet 32 which, therefore,

1s energized simultaneously with the solenoid coil 7. This relay controls contacts 3", 4", in a local circuit as follows: wires 24, 3 8, fixed contacts 36 and 35 (when closed by the brush contact 37 which is attached to the sliding member 21), wire 34 to armature 3" of the magnet 32 (which armature is held normally away from contact 4" by spring 39), contact 4*, wires 3330, coil 7 and wires 31, 27 and 29. The relation of the brush 37 to the contacts 36 and 35 is such that contact will be closed at 36 and 35 before the contact arm 8 bridges contacts 12 and -13 and cuts out the resistance 5, and the length of the contacts 36 and 35 is such, relative to the movement of the slide 21, that brush 37, after closing the circuit at the contacts 36, 35, will break said circuit at the final part of the movement of the slide 21, that is the final the diagram, Fig. 3, and this breaking of the local circuit at 36, 35, will take place while the arm 8 is still bridging the contacts 12 and 13 and is still cutting out-the resistance 5, and, therefore, while the circuit remains broken at 3, 4. It will be observed, however, that the circuit which includes the contacts 3*, 4", and the solenoid coil 7, when established, will be maintained independently of the contacts 3 and 4 or, in other words, the energizing of the solenoid coil 7 havlng been effected or initiated b' the closing of the contacts at 3, 4, the coil will still be energized through the local circuit part of itsupward movement in 7 bridge piece of the relay by way of the resistance 5 which,

as stated, is in serles with the relay coils and provides a resistance of about 30 ohms. The relay controls the energizing of supplemental relay 32 and solenoid coil 7, which latter controls the knife switches 8, 12 and 13 and 9, 10, 11. The efiect of this combination of elements, referring more particularly now to coil 3 and solenoid 7 and the contacts 8 12 and 13 and 9, 10 and 11, is that when the are light is consuming the required amount of current to illuminate the picture, the strength of the current shunted to the coil 3 of the relay is such that the magnetic field created is strong enough to retain the armature 3 resting on the pole piece 3, or rather on the rubber pad 3*, with which said pole piece is tipped. This holding effect of the armature 3 by the magnet is in opposition to the pull of the spring6, and in this position of the armature, i. 6., against the magnet pole, the local circuit or branch controlled by the relay and leading to the solenoid 7 is open and the switches 8 and 9 are held down or opened by the spring 15. As the current consumed by the arc lamp decreases, owing to the burning away of the carbons, the strength of the current shunted through the relay coil decreases proportionately until a point is reached where the magnetlc field is not strong enough to counter-balance the pull of the spring 6, on the relay armature, hence the armature 3 is pulled away. from the pole piece until it rests on the contact at 4. This closes the local circuit'described to the solenoid type of magnet 7, so that the shunt current is now also fed to this coil energizing it and causing its armature to travel toward its core,

carrying with it the two insulating bridging I arms 8 and 9. This movement of the solenoid armature 7 is timed or regulated by any suitable form shown at 7*. Bridge-9, in the course of its travel, first bridges contacts 10 and 11, these being longer than contacts 12 and 13, and near the end of the travel of the armature on knife switch 8 closes contacts 12 and 13. W'hen contacts 10 and 11 I are closed, the mam line current of volts is carried to the solenoid magnet 14 through the circuits 18, 19, 20 described, which solenold it energizes, thereby causing its armature to travel and causing its pawl to enof dash pot, such as is gage the ratchet wheel permanently fixed to the feeding shaft a of the arc lamp. This ratchet wheel is revolved by the travel of the armature to relatively move the arc carbons so that the current consumption is increased and hencethe strength of the shunt current is also increased.

Near the completion of the stroke of the armature 7 of solenoid 7, and after the current has been supplied to solenoid 14 for feeding the carbons, the insulated bridge arm 8 closes the contacts 12 and 13 so that the resistance 5, which is in series with the relay coil 3 is bridged or cut out, allowing the full strength of the shunt current to energize the relay coil. The strength of the magnetic field of this coil is thereby so greatly increased that the armature 3 is drawn back to its original position resting on the core of the relay magnet, thus breaking contact at 4 and hence the supply of the shunt current to coil 7 is discontinued.

It is desirable to maintain the coil 7 in action after being energized by the closing of the contacts at 3, 4, and after said contacts have been opened by the cutting out of the resistance 5, as stated, in order to secure a continuous one movement feed of the carbons, and to this end I provide the supplemental relay 32, and sliding brush contact 37 and contacts 35, 36 and circuit connection to maintain coil 7 in circuit independently of the contacts at 3, 4 controlled by the relay magnet 3.

When, therefore, the solenoid 7 is energized by the closing of the branch shunt circuit at 3, 4,,the coil of supplemental relay is energized simultaneously and the contacts 3*, 4 areclosed. The upward movement of the slide 21, due to the sucking action of coil 7, also brings the brush contact 37 to bear and slide upon the elongated contact strips 35 and 36. This completes the circuit of which the contacts 3", 4", form a part and which includes the coil 7 maintaining it energized, namely, wires 24, 38, contacts 36, 37, 35, wire 34, armature 3*, contact 4", wires 33, 30, coil 7, wires 31 and 27, 29. After this circuit is established the switch arm 8, due to the continued upward movement of the slide 21, engages contacts 12 and 13, cutting out resistance coil 5 and thus enabling magnet 3 to open the contacts 3 and 4. During this action, and continuing after it, the brush 37 still slides on the contacts 35 and 36, and, as stated above, the energizing of the coil 7 is maintained independent of the contacts 3, 4, allowing the armature 3 to assume a position of rest against the magnet poles. The coil 7 will be maintained in action,.continuously drawing up the slide 21, and maintaining the high tension circuit to the magnet or solenoid 14 until the brush contact 37 moves above and out of engagement with the contacts 36, 35, whereupon the local circuit,

which includes the supplemental relay contacts 3 4*, will be broken and the coil 7, therefore, will be deenergized, allowing the spring 15 to draw the slide 21 down again. The branch shunt circuit 30, 31, will remain broken at 3, 4 by the armature 3 remaining at rest and against the poles of magnet 3 and the supplemental relay magnet 32 will be de'nergized simultaneously with that of coil 7 and the local circuit will be broken at 3*, 4", and the apparatus therefor will be restored to its normal condition for a new operation.

The armature carrying the bridge pieces 8 and 9 is now drawn down by its spring 15 to its normal position, breaking this circuit to the coil 14 and leaving the resistance again in series with the relay coil.

It follows that to vary the consumption of current by the are, it is only necessary to vary the strength of the spring 6 of the relay- 3, 4, by means of its adjustment screw. If the pull of thespring 6 is increased, the magnetic field of the relay coil will have to be correspondingly stronger in order to retain the armature 3 on its pole piece, hence the normal consumption of the arc lamp will have to be correspondingly greater, so that the shunt current may also be increased to the required strength.

The apparatus shown in Fig. 111 may be used in the position there illustrated, or in reversed position.

The lamp mechanism may be of any well known type, such as that made by the Standard Moving Picture (10., The Precision Simplex Machine Co, Inc, the Nicholas Power Co., the Goumont Company of Paris, France, or it may be of the hand feed type shown in the patent of Roebuck, No. 1,120,086, December 8th, 1914.

1 claim as my invention 1. In combination with the carbon feeding mechanism of an arc lamp for motion picture machines, controlling means therefor, comprising a magnetic relay, the coil of which is in a shunt circuit from the arc lamp circuit, a resistance in said shunt circuit in series with the coil of said relay, electro-. magnetic means controlling a high tension circuit to the carbon feeding mechanism, said electromagnetic mechanism including a circuit closer for said high tension circuit, and a cut-out for said resistance, to effect a temporary increase in the strength of the magnetic field of the relay, and a branch shunt circuit for energizing the said electromagnetic high tension circuit closer controlled by the said relay, substantially as described.

2. In combination with the carbon feeding mechanism of an arc lamp, an electromagnetic switch controlling circuit connections leading thereto, an electromagnetic relay in a shunt from the main arc circuit and Controlling a circuit leading to said switch, a resistance in said shunt circuit in series with the said relay, and means for cutting out said resistance when the high tension switch is operated to close its circuit to the carbon operating mechanism, to thereby cause the relay to operate and cut out the high tension switch which then is restored to open position, substantially-as described.

3. In combination, electromagnetic carbon operating means, a timed electromagnetic switch, controlling the circuit to said electromagnetic carbon operating means, a shunt circuit, an electric magnetic relay in said shunt circuit controlling a branch circuit to the said timed. electromagnetic switch, and a resistance in said shunt circuit and in se ries with the relay, and means for cutting out said resistance when the carbons perform a feeding movement, to thereby increase the strength of the magnetic'field of the relay in said shunt circuit, to permit the same to resume its normal condition, said resistance then being cut into the circuit, substantially as described.

4. In combination, carbon feeding means including an electromagnetic member, a switch controlling the circuit thereto, electromagnetic means for controlling said switch, a shunt circuit for said electromagnetic switch, controlling means comprising a relay for making or breaking said shunt circuit leading to said switch controlling means, a resistance in the shunt circuit with the said relay and in series therewith, a cutout switch for said resistance operating after the closing of the switch first mentioned, substantially as described.

5. In combination, carbon operating means, a relay in a shunt circuit from the main arc lamp circuit, an electromagnetic switch controlling a circuit to the carbon operating means, said electromagnetic switch being in a local circuit controlled by the relay, and means for momentarily increasing the strength of the relay magnet to throw the switch to open position, said means being controlled by the said electromagnetic switch, substantially as described.

6. In combination, electromagnetic carbon feeding means, a relay in a shunt circuit from the main are lamp circuit, a resistance in said shunt circuit and in series with the relay coil, an electromagnetic switch consisting of a solenoid coil in a local circuit controlled by the relay, a reciprocating carrier connected with the solenoid armature, a knife switch member on said carrier. contacts closed by said knife switch member, a circuit including said contacts and the electromagnetic carbon operating means, a second knife switch member on said carrier, a pair of contacts to be closed by said second knife switch member for cutting out the resistance coil, said carrier operating to open the switches when the solenoid coil is deenergized, substantially-as described.

of which is in a shunt circuit from the arc lamp circuit, a resistance in said shunt circuit in series with the coil of said relay, electromagnetic means controlling a high tension circuit to the carbon feeding mechanism, said electromagnetic mechanism including a circuit closer for said high tension circuit, and a cut-out for said resistance, to effect a temporary increase in the strength of the magnetic field of the relay, and a branch shunt circuit for energizing the said electromagnetic high tension circuit closer controlled by the said relay, a supplemental relay energized simultaneously with the said electromagnetic means of the high tension circuit closer, and closing a contact in a local circuit to said electromagnetic means, and a second circuit closer in said local circuit controlled by said electromagnetic means to maintain the same in circuit after the resistance is cut out and the shunt circuit is broken at the main relay, substantially as described.

S. In combination with the carbon feeding mechanism of an arc lamp, an electromagnetic switch controlling circuit connections leading thereto, a main electromagnetic relay in a shunt from the main arc circuit and controlling a circuit leading to said electromagnetic switch, a supplemental relay in multiple with the electromagnetic switch and energized simultaneously therewith, said supplemental relay controlling a contact in a branch or local circuit which includes said electromagnetic switch, a second contact in said branch or local circuit which is controlled by the electromagnetic switch itself, said electromagnetic switch being initially energized through the main relay and thereafter maintained in service by the closing of the local circuit by the supplemental relay and the said second contact and independent of the contacts controlled by the main relay, means for reducing the resistance in the shunt circuit which includes the main relay, said means being operated by the said electromagnetic switch and thereby causing the main relay to breakthe branch shunt circuit, the said second contact in the local circuit being thereafter broken by the continued movement of the electromagnetic switch, whereupon saidswitch and the supplemental relay are restored to normal position, substantially as described. 7

Q. In combination with the carbon feeding mechanism of an arc lanp, an electromagnetic switch controlling the circuit thereto, and consisting of a solenoid, the

armature of which closes a contact in said circuit, a main relay in a shunt from the main arc circuit controlling the initial energizing of the solenoid, a supplemental relay in multiple with the solenoid, and controlling a circuit closer in a local circuit which includes said solenoid, a second contact in said local circuit controlled by the movement of the solenoid armature and oooperating with the contact at the supplemental relay to maintain the solenoid energized after the main relay is out of service and until the solenoid armature has performed a prescribed movement, after which the local circuit is broken and the solenoid armature is restored to normal position and means for cutting out resistance in the shunt circuit which includes the main relay while the solenoid remains energized through the local circuit, to thereby break the circuit to the solenoid, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR W. HARRIS.

Witnesses: WALTER DoNALDsoN,

ALEXANDER AARONSON. 

